SANAA, March 16 (Reuters) - Yemen's dominant Houthi militia
group on Monday released Prime Minister Khaled Bahah and all his
cabinet ministers after nearly two months under house arrest,
government spokesman Rajeh Badi said.

In a statement on his Facebook page, Bahah - who resigned in
January after the Houthis captured the presidential palace -
said the move was a goodwill gesture to ease talks on Yemen's
political transition. But he said he had no intention of
resuming his post.

"This comes as an expression of sincere good
intentions...(the government) confirms it does not desire to
return to its duties in light of the exceptional circumstances,"
he wrote.

The Houthis invaded the capital Sanaa and fanned out across
much of central Yemen in September in what they hailed as a
revolution against misrule and corruption.

A power struggle with President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi began
when the militants laid siege to his residence and forced him,
Bahah and the cabinet into house arrest in January.

Hadi has since escaped to the southern port city of Aden and
reclaimed the presidency, setting up a rival administration
there backed by Gulf neighbours, who have rejected the Houthi
takeover as a coup. Defence Minister General Mahmoud al-Subaihi
has also fled Sanaa to Aden.

United Nations-brokered talks have struggled to heal Yemen's
political rifts and head off the prospect of civil war, which
the cabinet's freedom may now ease.

"This opens the way for political factions to carry out
their national responsibility to come up with an agreement which
works to restore a transition," Bahah said.

Houthi leader Abdel-Malek al-Houthi said on Sunday the group
was engaged in indirect talks with neighbour Saudi Arabia, in
the first known dialogue between the Shi'ite Muslim group and
the Sunni regional powerhouse since the Houthis' takeover last
year. Saudi Arabia, Yemen's main benefactor, suspended aid soon
after the takeover.
(Reporting By Mohammed Ghobari; Writing by Noah Browning,
editing by Sami Aboudi and Hugh Lawson)